Are you interested in having plants around but you dont' want the boring green kind that just sits there? There's a large family of plants that often gets overlooked but one that is most interesting. These plants usually don't get the time of day they deserve. Some people don't like them and can send shivers up the spines of some of those people. These plants are quite unique in all areas and can serve quite a useful purpose in your indoor garden at home.

I'm referring to Carnivorous plants. That is the 720 member family of plants that eat bugs, flying insects and other things that get too close. There are several types usually available in high-end nurseries or exotic plant stores. Your local area will likely have one of these shops.

The Venus Fly-trap (Dionaea muscipula) This one is probably the most popular and most widely available. They eat by waiting patiently for a bug to walk across their gaping jaws, which are equipped with little hairs that trigger the jaws to close when the fly or bug triggers them. They absorb the juices of the bug to the point only the carcass remains. It is then discarded as it begins its wait for the next unlucky creature to stroll by.

The Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) These look like something from an alien movie. There are a few different kinds, one of them has its trap end of each of the leaves of quite an unassuming plant. There grows a short thin vine with a long, cylindrical, slender pitcher shaped growth. These "bowls" have downward pointed hairs inside that stop the bug from walking out again after they are lured near and fall in. There is water in the each pitcher which drowns the bug and then the plant digests them from there.

The Sundew (Drosera capensis) This is my favorite. There are several varieties of these and come in many different growth habits. Their main strategy is to produce a sweet sticky syrup filled with digestive enzymes. I found that the Sundew likes to be misted if your home air is dry, it helps them produce the syrup. This liquid exudes from little hairs on the surface of the fronds and mini "branches" of the plant. The flies and bugs are attracted to the syrup. Then they get stuck in it and as they struggle to get loose, they get covered in the sticky syrup more and the plant begins to digest them right away. The plant absorbs them slowly and after a week or so the dried up carcass becomes almost invisible and drops away.

The basic care of a carnivorous plant is pretty straightforward:

• They like moisture and humidity, they are tropical afterall
• Grow them in natural peat moss, and keep it quite moist and boggy
• Water them with distilled water only
• They don't like to be fed or fertilized at all
• All their nutrients come from the bugs they catch
• They prefer a nutrient free growing medium

In your local nursery you should be able to purchase fresh sphagnum peat moss. Make a bowl of this and plant your carnivorous plant to the same depth it was in the original container, this is usually quite shallow. They don't have roots like a standard plant.

Fill the bowl with water and treat them like a bog plant for most of the year. Distilled water is ideal. Do not use tap water they will be negatively affected by the chemicals in our water supply.

They will survive just fine on the little fruit flies of summer and the teeny little flies that sometimes come out of the soil of your topical house plants. The health of your house plants will likely improve over the summer, in addition to their basic care. Do not feed the Venus Flytraps hamburger.

Once you see how easy it can be to care for one of these then I'm sure it won't take long to acquire one for the plant collection. The carnivorous plants will be very low maintenance in the winter, just like the way other tropical plants need less care at that time. They will go dormant and need much less water during that time as well.

Expand your indoor garden and adopt one of these unique hard working plants.